Jay Evermist and the Olympians
by DoAaYS
Summary: Book One: The Battle Begins. Jay has been living at camp for seven years and still seems like she is out of place. When she and two other campers go missing during capture the flag she could accidentally have embarked on a dangerous quest.UndrConstruction
1. Day 2664

(Sorry I took like forever to get this out but this was originally only going to be 300 words and now its 1,490 words. I hope you enjoy and Merry Christmas.)

**Jay Evermist and The Olympians **

**Book One: The Battle Begins**

(This will be the temporary name until further notice. If you have a better one I would love to hear it!)

Chapter 1 – Day 2664

I have been here at this camp since I was 9 years old. I have been here for 7 years, 3 months, and 2 weeks from yesterday, and not once have I felt like I have belonged.

My name is Jay Evermist and this is my story of how my life got messed up. I guess I should start with the beginning, when my parents first met. My dad never really told me how they met, but I'm sure it was romantic. Not long after that I was born and my dad even proposed.

Now my mom would have said yes, in fact she wanted to, but she knew her duties lay somewhere else so she left during the night, never to be seen by my father again. That's the story, or at least all you need to know. Since then my mom has meet me, we have even talked for hours about nothing like moms and daughters are supposed to do. But she never stays, and I have never really met her in person, just through mist calls or dreams.

Okay now to the next part, Camp Half-Blood. I like it here, it's nice. It's quaint and quiet at the moment but only because it is fall and almost everybody is back at their schools. I'm the only one left in my cabin, cabin fourteen, but there are some from Hades, Ares, Athena, Apollo, and a bunch from Hermes. Luckily all the Ares kids decided to go back to school or else my story would be a lot more violent.

So, I figured I would write this down so for anyone out there who is wondering why I complain so much about my life, this will explain it. I guess it started on November 28th. The day the oracle decided to have a fit, and I got lost with two stangers.

I was hanging out by the lake listening to the Naiads when the lunch bell rang. I looked down at my watch and wondered where the time had gone. I stood up and made my way to the pavilion which was only a couple yards away. I watched as the other campers followed and sat at their respectable tables. I was sitting alone at the Iris table, like I had been for a few weeks now, but I liked it. I also kept a small backpack with me with some things in it. I kept a water bottle, a few extra hair ties, a bag of pencils and a notebook. Every day at every meal I would pull that out and draw what I saw.

I was fun to look back and see how people would change and how their seating would be different from the last. It would actually tell you a lot about people. And that's exactly why I did it, to help me read people. Now I know people always tell you to not to judge but when you are out on your own that is your only way of survival, I'm just getting ready.

After giving my offering I ate the rest of my food fast and started my quick sketch. I moved from the Athena table, only five sat there, to the Hades table, only four, the Hephaestus table, two, the Aphrodite table, four again, Poseidon and Zeus, both of which only had one, and then the Apollo table, there were six sitting at that table. But I always spent the most time on the Hermes table. I don't know whether it was the fact that there were ten campers all together or the fact that they had the hottest guy at camp there.

I don't know if I should use the word hot, which would seem disrespectful. He was handsome, sweet, funny, brave, but maybe a little bit of a prankster. He was Conner Stoll. I always paid extra detail to him. I made his eyes extra blue and his hair have different shading of brown. Anyway, I got shaken out of my trance when Chiron a girl from Athena's Table made an announcement.

Let me get something straight, this was Annabeth and I didn't like her. I saw her as judgmental, bossy, controlling, and just plain rude. But that's a different story.

"Hello campers," She began. Most people continued eating while a few looked up at her.

"Okay, well just as a reminder, the capture the flag game will begin in two hours or whenever you hear the bell again. I just wanted to go over the standard protocol to prevent time wasted then. You will meet up with your team and discuss tactics and positions. After five minutes of that you will begin and play."

The majority of the people were looking up and listening now as I drew every detail of Annabeth attire.

"Now, the teams are, as follows. Red team you will be Athena, Hades, Apollo, Poseidon, and Iris."

I smiled to myself half-heartedly thinking that Annabeth would boss me around. Of course she would be the leader, everybody loves her.

"The blue team is Hephaestus, Zeus, Aphrodite, and Hermes." She concluded her announcement as the campers began to get up and continue with their day.

Usually during the summer when there's like triple this many people we would have schedules and classes but during these parts we just sort of hang out. I mean we still had training every Thursday and Greek every Tuesday but other than that we just walked around. So I went back up the Lake where some other people had gathered around. I took out my colored pencils and just let my mind wander.

I noticed some of the Hermes kids out of the crowd along with a few from Apollo. 'The trouble makers,' I thought to myself. I one girl from Apollo who couldn't have been more than nine hanging around Will and a girl I didn't know of. I started drawing and it was pretty obvious which ones were which; the Apollo kids were all small and agile with Blonde hair while the Hermes kids where tall and lanky with a much browner hair color.

This is when it started to get weird. Let me tell you something, I liked water; I just didn't like getting wet. So when I saw the kids continue out to the dock I scooted towards the tree I was sitting behind as fast as possible. It was kind of a blur, one second they were standing there and the next they jumped in as a group. Time slowed as a huge wave came hurtling me. I closed my eyes an crossed my arms over my face.

I heard the splashing of water on the tree and looked up slowly to see that I wasn't wet. In fact it was almost like the water bounced right off of me. I saw a few people laughing in the water while three guys came out to help me up. Two were from Apollo, a girl and a boy, and the other, I recognized that face anywhere. Connor reached for my arm and helped me up while the girl was going to get help.

"Dude, that was amazing." The guy from Apollo exclaimed.

"Yeah how'd you do that?" Connor asked intrigued. "A wave was hurtling towards you and then it just bounced away at the last second."

I was still in shock at two things, one, that I may or may not have just controlled water and the fact that Connor was this close to me. The girl had just arrived from getting Chiron from the big house. I noticed that she was about my age and her hair was an unnatural shade of Red.

"Thank you Miki, Austin, and Connor?" Chiron asked surprised. "It is not often I see you helping someone."

"Well, I did do this to her."

"That's never stopped you before." Austin, the boy from Apollo, said under his breath."

"Well, maybe it's because I don't help little-" Connor held out his fist as his brother Travis walked up.

"Boys," Chiron protested. "You may continue your dispute later. Now run along." Travis had to pull his brother away while Austin ran back over to the dock to join his own brothers and sisters. Chiron stopped the girl, Miki. "Oh and retrieve Percy for me. Tell him I need to talk to him now in the big house."

She ran towards the cabins as I shifted uncomfortably. "Now for you, come along. You have a gift, you must be trained."


	2. It Begins

**Jay Evermist and the Olympians**

**Book One: The Battle Begins**

Chapter 2: It Begins

(I am sticking with this name, I like it :P)

I had been in that house enough times to know where everything was. We walked into the living room and sat down on the couch that over looked the fireplace.

"Chiron, are you saying I have been at camp for 7 years and I'm just now finding out about a power I may or may not possess?" I was confused. Anyone in my place would be.

"I think I'll let Percy explain this one." As if on cue, Percy rushed through the doors and walked over to Chiron and me.

"What' the matter?" He asked looking intrigued and scared. "Miki just told me it was important. So I came right away."

"Jay here might have a gift of Poseidon, a water element control." He said nodding his head. He trotted to the back room and closed the door to let us talk.

I told him the whole story like it was no big deal but his eyes grew wide with excitement as I told it. "You really think I can control water. Ha" I laughed to myself as he leaned back in his chair.

"It's not all that unbelievable, Iris was in fact the goddess of rainbows and messengers but also, she had control over rain as well. If the water was in a droplet like form you could have manipulated it."

"Well yeah, but what about showers, I get wet in them." I asked finally realizing what was happening.

"Well, yeah so do I." He laughed. "If I were to go jump off a cliff into the water I would be dry but because I want to be clean I don't even think about it. It's really confusing but you just get used to it."

I just had more question. "Okay, but why now? Why now when it could have been anytime?"

"Well, possibly due to the fact that you never really swim or go into the water we haven't noticed." I also leaned back and tried to piece this together as best as I could. 'It's fine." He placed a hand on my shoulder. "You'll be fine." He smiled and looked at his watch.

"We have a good hour before games, so if you want to rest or stay out, we would all understand."

"No," I slowly pulled myself to my feet. "I want to play." I had to prove myself to everyone, even Annabeth.

"Okay, but seriously, rest Okay?" I nodded my head as Percy stepped back into the office with Chiron. He looked worried I made out a few words like, 'Rachel' and 'Gone'. I rolled it off and turned around towards the door.

I stepped back into the afternoon light. I made my way to my cabin and flopped myself on my bed. Since Iris was a minor god and didn't have many children, there were only six single beds around two walls while the rest was open room. By the walls there was every artists dream. There were paints and charcoals and pencils and everything. I always felt like I could just go there to relax or let out my emotions.

Today however I felt like curling up in a ball and falling asleep. I never was one for the spotlight and when the attention's on me I usually mess up and everyone is disappointed. I sat on my bed and looked to where I had put my name and hand print. Everyone that had been a son or daughter of Iris had done it when they first arrive at camp. I remembered how Butch and Hannah had to help me up because I wanted mine at the top of the wall. I had always said that I would be that tall one day and reach it. I still had a good foot and a half to go.

I was already pretty tall for my age but they had lifted me all the way up to the ceiling basically. I also had hair long enough to match my height. My hazel hair reached my waist and I had put streaks in it with Hannah last summer. We always did that kind of stuff, sneaking out, staying up late, dying our hair, it was kind of our thing.

Gosh I missed Hannah. She was like a sister to me, probably considering she was my half sister on the God side. She really was my only friend but she got accepted into a college in Maine and had left in September.

That's pretty much all I did for a half an hour, just sat on my bed and thought. After that I stepped outside for some fresh air. I know most people would say their cabin was the best but I seriously loved my cabin. There was a little patio with stones slabs that fit together perfectly. They told the story of how the first rainbow was made by my mother when she was born from Thaumas and Electra.

I watched as the campers walked from place to place with their business. Some people were heading to the forges to work on armor and equipment for the games later while the Aphrodite kids tanned by the beach in their bikinis and swimsuits. There was one guy that stood out to me though, a guy from the Hades cabin.

I think his name was Jacob although I could be wrong. He was tall like me and was hanging around some other kids from Hades. I noticed that the other three had dark hair, eyes, and skin where as he had a light tan, light hair, contrasting on his dark blue eyes. He must feel so different. Hey, I told you I could read people.

After enjoying the air for a little bit I went inside to put my backpack away and start heading towards the armory. I saw some people from my team and some from the other. I could feel the jitters in my blood stream as I walked up to Annabeth who was getting everything ready.

"Excuse me." She turned around with that smile that told you that she was happy but also to stay out of her way. "I was just wondering when we would meet as a team for the game."

"Well, Percy and I will be leading it. He will be in charge of the defensive side and I will be in charge of the offensive."

"Do you know which one I will be on?" I asked. I wanted to be on offensive so bad. I was always stuck sitting around kicking pebbles while the other members got the flag.

She pulled a clip board off the table and looked me up. "Yes, Iris. You will be on Percy's side."

I gave a half-hearted smile as a walked away and headed towards the forest, the usual place to meet if you were on defense. When I got there I saw Percy already handing out spots and it looked as if I would be stuck with strangers…again. I walked up to him as everyone else began heading towards the woods.

"Hey, Jay! You made it." Percy said with a proud smile on his face.

"Yeah, I couldn't let my team down. Now where exactly will I be placed?" I asked while trying to look over his shoulder unto his notepad.

"Well, I have you placed behind the boundary but in front of the flag. You won't be the last defense so don't worry if anyone gets past. I'll be there with Nico in case that happens. But judging that you'll be with Miki and Jacob I think you'll be fine.

"Great." I huffed as I walked through the trees towards the rock pile known as Zeus' Fist. The flag was put in the center with guards standing all around. I was a little further up right where the trees started again into the forest. I wasn't the first line of defense, I kept telling myself.

I met up with Miki and Jacob and they looked like they didn't enjoy themselves either. I stood there awkwardly without saying hi or them even looking up. Jacob seemed even taller up close and that made Miki appear short when in reality she was only 5'10''. The horn blew in the distance and everyone became alert and focused. We spread out with about 10 feet in between us and got out swords ready. I pulled down my helmet and turned to the side to see if they were as ready or not ready as I was.

Miki turned to me as well and smiled, "Let's go!" Her smile seemed unnatural as I heard the leaves snap in the distance. There was no backing out now, it was now or never. I gripped my sword as the first wave came at us.


	3. Captue the Flag

**Jay Evermist and the Olympians**

**Book One: The Battle Begins**

Chapter 3: Capture the Flag

(This one's really crappy, sorry! I figured I would put out two for Christmas so Merry Christmas!)

I gripped my sword as the first wave came towards us. I saw a boy about my age running at us with some kids who looked 14. He had a deep tan and curly brown hair. I saw he was heading towards Miki's side and turned to see her. She had frozen in place staring at the boy in front of her. It wasn't until he was within reach that she raised her sword, but by that point it was too late. I managed to hold some of the kids off but that boy was already running towards the flag. I sure hoped Percy gave him a fist full of sword.

After that I thought it couldn't get worse. It was silent for a couple minutes which made it eerie. But then, a group of voices rang out as if they were howling. There was a thundering noise as a huge mob of people came at us. We held out our weapons and fought our way to survive. Most people ignored us with the occasional small fight or clash of swords.

Over all I thought I did pretty good. I looked to see how they were doing and was impressed by Jacob. He was using a stygian iron sword in one hand and a circular shield in the other. No one was getting past him. Even Miki was doing well. Usually she isn't the best fighter but there was a fire in her eyes as she used an oddly shaped sword that looked as if it was made of gold. I looked down at my sword and sighed. It probably wasn't even supposed to be called a sword. It was only a foot and a half and looked like I had picked it up off the floor, all dirty and rusty.

"Jay!" I heard someone calling my name and saw Jacob running towards me.

"Jay! They all came over here! Do you know what this means? There's no one on their side. We could go and have a good chance." He seemed pretty excited and pretty. I mean, just excited.

I saw Miki behind me and nodded. "Okay we don't split up while we're over there. It's a quick in and out. If we see the enemy we will not go further okay?"

They both agreed and lined up on the edge to the forest. "One more thing before we go." I added. "Don't wait up!" I took off like a speeding bullet. If there were one thing people told me too often it was how fast I was. I smiled though as I heard the screams and protests of them behind. I had smiled for the first time in a couple months.

I stopped behind a tree trunk as I saw the flag. I heard breathing behind me and reached for my sword as I turned around. Just my luck, it was the Stoll brothers.

"Shouldn't you be on offense, scaring us off with your tricks?" I asked as I studied both of them carefully.

"Funny, see, we don't organize our strategies like that. Our only rule is to never give up." Travis said with a smirk that made me want to punch him.

"You forgot that we have to crush their spirits when we win." Connor added with a twinkle in his eye.

"You guys better be going, I have back up." I said with fake confidence.

"Sure you do, rainbow, just like I have a girlfriend!" Travis highfived Connor on his funny joke.

Just as they said that I saw Miki running towards me with Jacob at her heels. She was holding his shield and snuck up behind the brothers.

"Yeah, and if you don't leave soon they just might get you." I continued on, trying to buy Miki some time for whatever plan she had.

She pulled her hands up over her head and dropped the shield down on Travis' head with a loud bang. Connor had a look of fear and ran off in the opposite direction.

"Boo-yah!" Miki cried as she flicked her wrists at a crumpled body on the ground.

"I hope you didn't hurt him." Jacob sounded worried.

"Oh come on," I started. "She hit him with a shield, he gonna be hurting." I regretted saying that after I saw him blush slightly and back away while picking up his shield.

"Okay well the flag's over there, I think you just took out the main defense." I said at Miki.

"Well, what are we waiting for, let's get it."

I pulled Miki back by her ponytail as Jacob stopped her. "We can't just barge in, it's too easy. Too predictable."

We waited a couple of seconds and soon enough, a boy a little older then us looking, stepped out of the shadows and snuck up to the flag. Jacob stood up.

"Jacob what are you doing?" I asked as I pulled on his pant leg.

"He's one of ours." He was right he was wearing a helmet with a red stripe down the middle. "It's Nico." He said as he ran up.

"Come on Miki let's go." We followed him through the path to get to the flag where Nico was there admiring it.

"Come on dude grab it." Miki said. She put a hand out but it got swatted away by Nico.

"Hermes is the cabin of thieves and tricksters; they would never make it this easy." Nico said while circling it.

"Right you are." We all turned to see a boy younger than us laughing to him. "We wouldn't make it easy, so go, try to grab it and watch what happens."

"Um, okay." Miki responded as she grabbed for it a second time. Jacob and I both grabbed her arm to stop her from grabbing it again.

"Looks like you just can't win. Now if you excuse me I have to go assist my team in winning." He ran like the wind towards our side and was gone in a flash.

"Dang Hermes kids, they go so fast." Nico cursed under his breath.

Jacob attempted to cheer him up. "You can't blame them; Hermes himself has shoes that have wings."

"Well, I have to help Percy with defending the flag; hopefully we haven't lost too many people so far." He stepped back into the shadows and just vanished.

"He has got to teach me that." Miki exclaimed as she bounced up and down.

"So what do we do know." I was getting inpatient and didn't want to wait around.

"We grab the flag obviously." Jacob said as if it were clear as day.

"But he said not to." I protested.

"He also told our cabin that Hades keeps his kids prisoners so not everything he says should be believed." He huffed and grabbed the pole.

There was a flashing and a bright light uncoated us. One second we were in camp, the next we weren't. Miki just had to make it even worse by saying the one line everyone was thinking.

"Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore!"


	4. Author's Note 1

Sorry I haven't updated. I have it a little more than halfway done but my computer decided to not work. I don't want to startover because I was already over 700 words in. I was stupid and didn't save it to my flash drive but to my computer. I hope it will turn on soon so I can get it and finish. Currently, I am using my sister's computer to tell you this. Sorry and thanks for the understanding!


	5. We Land on a Monument

**Jay Evermist and The Olympians**

**Book One: The Battle Begins**

Chapter 4: We Land on a Monument

(I have writers block so please don't complain oh and yeah my computers working. Probably knows what's best for it!)

I was blinded by the sun for a second before taking in my surroundings. We were standing in a field of grass. There were buildings around so my first thought was that we were in Central Park. I knew we weren't because I don't remember there being giant circles of grass in Central Park, but it's good to get hopes up.

"Guys," Jacob tapped both of our shoulders so we turned around to see what he was facing "Is that what I think it is?" About a half a mile away was a white thing sticking up from the ground.

"That isn't the Washington Monument is it?" I asked desperately. I knew it was but I wanted hope.

"Yeah, it is." Miki said from behind us. I looked at her face and it looked like all color had drained from it. It was then that I noticed she had a small scar on her right cheek.

"Have you been here before?" Jacob asked her.

"She was still staring at the monument. "Yeah," she replied dryly. "Let's look for a cab."

"Wait, that's it?" I asked in shock. "We have come this far to Washington D.C. and now we are just going to go back to camp like nothing happened.

"Well, I guess we could go and see some sights." A smile crept along Jacob's face.

"Guys, Chiron is probably looking for us everywhere! I don't want to worry him." Miki protested. She seemed to despise this place.

"Oh come on, I'm the oldest, I say we go and explore. We leave by tonight though." Jacob said as he walked towards the road. We followed as I dragged Miki along reluctantly.

"Well, does anyone know how long it takes to get to New York from here?" I asked. "I mean, we have to plan our time out."

I heard Miki say something under her breath and asked her what she said. "It takes 4 hours and 10 minutes to get New York from here. 50 minutes if there is traffic."

I was shocked she knew that but knew some things where best left untouched. We walked up to the monument and found a tourist table with information packets and maps. Jacob took one of both and began looking through them. I interrupted his reading with a slight cough.

"Um," He looked up at me. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

He thought about it for a second and then looked down to realize we were all still dressed in our gladiator armor. "Oh, follow me."

We found the nearest restroom and took our armor off and left them in the bushes. "If we ever come back, we'll know where to find them." Jacob said as going back to his pamphlet occasionally looking up to see where things were.

Miki and I sat down on the benches will he walked in circles in front of us. I noticed he was wearing his camp shirt and just plain jeans. I liked guys like that; they didn't try to stand out just to be comfortable. Not that I like him, I like Connor. But at least Jacob knows me.

Miki however was wearing her shirt but not just that. She had skinny jeans that reached down to her black, worn out looking blue Nikes. Over her shirt she wore a yellow sweatshirt and a bunch of bracelets.

She was about my body type but less muscular, shorter, and paler. Okay so we were almost completely different, especially our sense of style. Unlike her colorful sense I wore black ripped jeans, my camp shirt, black converse, and a nose ring. The only colorful thing in my outfit was the orange shirt but I was forced to wear that. You would have thought she was the daughter of the rainbow goddess.

"Okay, so we could go to the museums, which are a couple yard that way." He pointed to a group of fancy Greek looking buildings in the distance. "Or we could go to the Washington Monument gift shop."

"At the top of the monument? I don't think so." Miki said folding her arms.

"Well, you can just stay down here and be all alone with a bunch of strangers then." Jacob and I got up and walked back over to the tourist table to buy tickets for the long elevator ride.

Miki got up and jogged over to where we were. I handed her, her ticket. "I thought you would join us."

We got in line for the monument behind a couple that looked like they were in their forties. I checked my watch again.

"Jacob, we have to be quick if we want to leave tonight." I complained.

"We have to. I mean we will." Miki answered. She looked back to the ground and fiddled with a sun pendant on her necklace. It was weird, I had never seen her so jumpy and quiet.

Then again, I didn't like being away from camp either. But at the same time, it was awesome, no one to tell you what to do and no schedule.

We finally got into the elevator with the couple and a tour guide. She began to explain safety rules and what not as the doors closed. Miki grabbed my arm and I looked down to see she was really green and sickly looking.

"What's wrong?" I asked with sympathy.

"Nothing," she drew back her arm and began fiddling with her necklace again.

I turned my attention back to the tour guide. The elevator was big, well, bigger than the ones you see at malls but still it was cozy. She explained how there was an observation tower and a set of emergency stairs in cause of an emergency.

"Wow, must take forever to walk down those stairs." I whispered to Jacob as he chuckled along.

The elevator dinged signaling the ride was done. We stepped out into a room that must have been the size of a cabin back at camp. It wasn't that much bigger than the elevator. The walls were covered in windows along with a observation deck which extended with a floor of glass.

"Now, don't be afraid." The guide began. "These windows are 3 feet thick, even the strongest wind or heaviest person can't break them." She smiled. "Now if anyone has any questions about buildings or the history just feel free to ask." She moved to the corner of the room and pulled out her cell phone.

Miki was standing in front of the elevator still with her hands behind her back and her eyes looking at her feet.

Jacob and I came over and I placed a hand on her shoulder. "Is everything alright?" Jacob asked looking scared.

She shook her head fast and quick. "Heights," she muttered. "I don't like heights. Something tells me this is wrong." She looked at her feet again as her eyes began to water.

"Oh it's all right." I said while hugging her. "Jacob will go ask the nice guide if we can just go down the steps."

He went and asked but came back with a bad response. "She says no one's aloud alone in any part of the monument without a guide or official." He kicked a piece of stone that was on the ground. I looked at it and then picked it up.

"Hey, what's a stone like this doing up here?" I asked out loud.

Just then I heard a whisper from the couple and saw out of Jacob's glasses them sniff the air. I could hear what they said and it chilled me to the bone. "Honey, do you spell demigod?"


	6. Storm Spirits Ruin Everything

**Jay Evermist and the Olympians**

**Book One: The Battle Begins**

Chapter 5: Storm Spirits Ruin Everything

(Ugh, I don't like writing fight scenes so please, excuse me. Sorry it took so long! )

I grabbed Jacob and Miki's arm and dragged them over to the guide. "Excuse me miss." She looked up from her phone annoyed. "We really have to leave now my sister here," I motioned towards Miki. "Is feeling really sick and unless you want throw up on your floor you may want to let us walk down the stairs."

She popped a bubble from her gum. "Whatever, just don't actually throw up until you get outside."

"Come on, let's go." We rushed to the other side of the room, trying not to distract the couple. I shook the door handle but it wouldn't budge. "It's locked."

"It can't be she doesn't have any keys." Jacob whispered worried. He started pacing the floor.

"We're going to die here aren't we?" Miki whimpered.

"No we're fine." I replied with false hope.

"Jay," Jacob pulled on my shirt and I turned to see the couple facing us sniffing the air.

"What do we have here?" The woman said, "a demigod, not just one, but three."

"What do you want?" I asked eyeing them both up and down. They definitely didn't look like monsters.

"We were sent on a mission by the leader of the Golden Age himself." The man spat out. His voice was raspy but at the same time it flew together. "We were looking for you."

"Us," Miki laughed, obviously forgetting about her fears. "Why would you want us? We aren't threats."

"You have no idea." The woman said while nastily smiling. Almost as in a blur they jumped up in unison and disappeared in the wind, like dust.

"That was, unexpected." Jacob said rubbing the back of his head.

"I don't think that's it." I replied walking towards the stairs. "We have to leave now.

I walked over to the door and hit it with the sword that was strapped to my belt, and it opened like new. We headed to the stairs and began to descent when I heard Miki scream. She was in the back and I turned to see what was wrong. The couple was back only they weren't in their human form. They were storm spirits. I began to run down the steps as fast as I could as Jacob and Miki followed my lead.

We made it down about one third of the way when they started swirling around in the small space. There were railings and if there weren't then I would have fallen right down to the bottom. We rushed but it was too much. I felt my feet slowly begin to lift off the ground. I screamed and Jacob reached for my arm.

"Help!" I screamed. I had my eyes closed tight as I felt my body lift up and fly away.

"I got you!" Jacob and Miki screamed back. "Hold on!" It was so loud with the wind in my ears I could barely hear them. I felt them grab my arms and pull me back over towards the railing. After pulling me over it we ran even faster.

Almost there, it was almost like it taunted me, the door. It was only a couple flights of stairs away, but they pestered. My hair whipped out of the ponytail I had it in and flew in my face. Right in front of me, I just had to practically reach out my hand and we'd be home free.

But, no, they didn't want that. The wind stopped suddenly causing me to jolt forward. I turned around to see Jacob and Miki running down to catch up with me.

"Man, you run fast!" Jacob said out of breath.

"Where are they?" Miki asked looking around the tower. Of course they were back in human form walking down to meet us.

"We gave you a chance and we will give you another." The woman said. Her eyes were so cloudy like there was nothing behind them. Of course there wasn't. "Come with us, or die." She smiled sweetly.

"And how will you kill us?" I really shouldn't have asked but my defensive side kicked in.

"Like this." They spun around and disappeared. Almost right away the whole monument shook, harder than it did before. A chunk fell from the top and crashed on the floor leaving a huge gash.

I let out a scream and ran towards the door; I could not die, today. I reached for the door but it was locked.

"Seriously!" I yelled. I was done. Me and two strangers were about to be killed by spirits who I didn't know. If it was up to me, I would be at camp with a losing team. But, I would be happy and safe. Jacob rushed past me as he tried to open the door. It wouldn't budge. I felt my eyes begin to tear up as another chunk fell and Miki put her hand on my shoulder.

"I have an idea," Miki said to us. "This might sound dangerous, crazy, and definitely illegal but what if we made the storm guys drop a chunk causing a hole for us to walk out?"

"If we destroy the foundation the whole thing will just crumble." Jacob said as pacing the floor.

"Either way we die by falling cement." Miki said as a larger block fell. She dodged it but just barely.

After a mutual agreement we decided we would lure the angry spirits who were flying around the top to one side. We would stay there and when they would drop one we would just have to hope we were quick. The first try was a failure and almost got us killed but, the second time was okay. It came hurdling down and was aimed so it was crash right through the wall. I stood there just like a deer in headlights and it wasn't until Jacob forcefully moved me that I did move. It worked!

We stood there dumbstruck for a second until we realized we were free. We ran to the opening and climbed through the rumble until we felt the grass beneath our feet. It was dark outside.

"Didn't we g in when it was light?" Miki asked.

"Well it was 4 when the games started and it was only 5:30 when we entered the thing." But now apparently it's," I looked down at my watch and almost screamed. "8:00!"

"No way we were in there that long!" Miki said while moving my arm to see the watch.

"Guys," Jacob's face was grim. "He picked up a piece of rumble that looked like a mobile phone. "We left her in there."

I gasped as I remember the guide. Miki choked back a sob as Jacob placed the phone down. We looked back up to the monument and it looked bad. Like really bad, there were parts missing and the top had broken off. We had destroyed a national monument; I don't think they will like that.

"We have to catch a cab." I said while turning around and heading to a pay phone.

"But do you have any money?" Jacob asked.

"I have a couple drachmas that I keep in my pocket but I think there's only like eight." I responded.

"Besides," Jacob sighed. "It's too late to go now; we need to find somewhere to stay for the night."

Miki spoke up. "Which brings us up to the financial issue?"

"Yeah," Jacob sighed again.

"So where to now? No hotels obviously." I said while sitting against a tree.

Miki looked like she was battling whether to say something or not. She eventually spoke up. "We could stay somewhere I know off."

"Where, is it close?" I asked, getting up.

She nodded her head. "Yeah, it's just down the block if they haven't moved. It's my mom's house, but I haven't been there for years." She looked down at her feet and it sounded like she was holding back tears.

"Well, let's go." Jacob exclaimed oblivious to the fact it hurt Miki.

"Yeah," I whispered. I grabbed Miki's hand and began to follow her down the street.


	7. Tears A lot

**Jay Evermist and the Olympians**

**Book One: n The Battle Begins**

Chapter 6: Tears (A lot)

(Sorry for not updating for so long! Also in case you were wondering, Jacob likes to be quiet and that's why he has seemed to keep his distance in the past few chapters. I hope you enjoy!)

When we approached a large brown town house on the end of this dead end street Miki stopped and stared for a moment. It was almost like she was wondering whether to go through with this.

I sensed that she felt afraid. "When was the last time you saw them?" I ask compassionately.

"Two years ago, I ran away." She wiped a tear from her cheek as Jacob gave her a small hug. "But last year, I came back to apologize to see my mom had remarried and had forgotten all about me." She sniffed before looking back up at me.

"You don't have to do this." Jacob said reassuringly.

"No, I do." She grabbed out hands and trudged onward up the stone pathway until we reached a white door twice my size covered with blotches of black paint.

Miki reached out her hand shaking and knocked on the door lightly. After some time of nothing happening, she pressed the door bell and we began to hear footsteps inside. My watch read 9:12 and everyone was probably getting ready for bed f not already in bed, it was a school night.

A little girl with bright blonde hair opened the door and took one look at us and stared. I wouldn't blame her. How would you react if three teens showed up at your door with terrible hair, torn clothes, and weapons. But, I don't think she was staring at that, she had her eyes locked on Miki. Her eyes began to tear up as she ran forward and gave her a hug. Miki hugged back and Jacob and I suddenly felt really awkward.

When they came apart Miki introduced us, "Guys this is my step sister Tawny who I love very much." She smiled, wiping away yet another tear. "Tawny this is Jay and Jacob."

Tawny laughed, "It's like JJ" I blushed and then realized what I was doing and changed my expression to solemn.

The following minutes included Miki's sister Tawny letting us in and explaining how her parents weren't home and wouldn't be back until tomorrow at noon. I was happy they weren't there and I could tell Miki was relieved too.

Miki and her sister went down stairs and brought up sleeping bags for us. "I guess I'll be sleeping down here with you and Jacob tonight." I nodded in agreement. "By the way, where is Jacob?"

"I don't know," I answer. "Let me go look." Before I leave I see Tawny grabbing Miki's arm with tears in her eyes. She was only 7 and this must be hard to never see her sister and when you do see her it's only for a couple hours.

"Mickenzie, when are you guys leaving?" She asked choking back tears.

"In the morning," She pulled her in for a hug and I decided to let them have their family moment. Wait, did she call Miki Mickenzie? I'm glad Jay isn't short for anything.

When I walk onto the patio I see Jacob sitting on a small brick wall separating the patio from the lawn. I didn't know whether it was the reflection off his glasses or if they were tears on his cheeks. I stepped forward landing on a crunching leaf. Smooth one Jay.

He spun around but only turned back when he saw it was me. I walked over to sit next to him. He smelled good, like cinnamon and musk, I guess that's the smell of death.

"Are you okay?" I asked, breaking the silence.

He looked up at the moon, "No."

"Do you want to talk about it?" I knew this was rude to ask the moment it came from my lips. He didn't speak for a while.

Right as I was going to tell him about the sleeping bags he answered my question, "It's just," He took a deep breath. "Being here reminds me about my mom and how much I miss her."

I nod, not knowing what else to do. I mean I also miss my dad but I only remember him vaguely. "Does she live around here? Maybe we can visit her tomorrow on our way up to New York." I put a hand on his shoulder to try and cheer him up.

"No, she doesn't live around here. Let's just say she's in a better place now." I gasp quietly understanding what he means.

"I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, Dad let me go to the judgment, she couldn't see me though. She got sent to Elysium and even got an option to be reborn. She declined though." He leaned back taking in the view of the stars. "She was a hero you know. Even went on a couple quests in her day."

"She would be proud of you." I say hoping he would see my smile. He just looked back in his lap and took another deep breath. It was then that I realized how cold it could be when it's October and you're wearing a T-Shirt. I shivered involuntarily and Jacob must have noticed it.

"Come on let's get you inside." He took my hand and we walked inside to the living room where we each sat down on our sleeping bags that were now sprawled across the floor.

Miki walked in with half a bag of chips and three water bottles. "Here you go." I grab my bottle and take a sip, it feels good to drink. I hadn't had anything to drink since Lunch at camp. I lean over to Jacob when Miki wasn't looking and whispered to him.

"Thanks." I say while making it look like I was adjusting my pant leg.

"What," He seemed surprised.

"You saved me back there and I would have died."

He blushed. "Well, you know." He stammered out. "You would have done the same."

"Okay guys." Miki announced. "Tawny is up stairs in bed and we should probably get some sleep as well. I have chips here in case you're hungry. There is a monster movie marathon on channel 12 if you want to watch that too."

"What happened to going to sleep?" Jacob asked.

"Pssh. We just have to be out of here by 10:00 tomorrow. My parents shouldn't get home until 12 but just to be safe."

"Movies it is." Jacob concluded. I smiled but then stopped.

"Wait, we should call Chiron."

"Oh my gosh." Miki said getting up. "I didn't even think about that. They're probably worried sick about us."

"Come on we can make an Iris message in the kitchen." We all walked in and I turned the water on. "Does anyone have a drachma?" Luckily Jacob can pull one out and hand it to me. Miki grabbed a spoon and put it under the water to make it splash up to a rainbow.

"Oh Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering." I said as I threw the coin and watched it dissolve into the rainbow. I thought hard about Chiron and camp. Before long I saw Chiron stranding in front of what looked like a fire.

"Chiron!" I screamed. He looked at me and did a double take.

"Jay, Miki, Jacob where are you three? What happened?"

Before any of us can answer I hear a wave of talking pound through my ears. Oh please don't tell me this is the bon fire time. Chiron waved his hand and the view changed so we were looking up at the arena of kids sitting there talking.

I noticed that little girl I saw at the dock stand and wave her hands. She screamed, "Miki! Over here Miki!" Miki put her face in her hand when she saw her.

"Diana, sit down with Will!" I was surprised she heard her but she did what she was told.

Chiron spoke to the crowd. "Attention campers. Our lost campers have been found." Everyone began to look at us and I felt really awkward. I didn't like attention.

I saw Nico stand up and start clapping for Jacob after no one joined him, he sat down, though.

"Where are you exactly?" Chiron asked.

I was still speechless so Jacob answered this. "We are in Washington D.C., currently at Miki's mom's house. We plan to stay the night and head back to New York in the morning." His voice changed from when we talked before. It sounded more in charge now.

"How did you get there?" Chiron asked looking scared.

"It was those Hermes kids! They're evil!" Bandy broke out amongst the crowd and I saw Annabeth stand up with clenched fists, Percy however pulled her back down.

"It wasn't them." I said coming out of my trance. "They couldn't have made a trick that powerful. I don't think anyone in camp made it."

Silence fell across the camp as I spoke. "Our best chance is to just get there as soon as possible to be safe."

"That's a good idea Jay." Chiron said as he stopped trotting back and forth.

"Jacob why don't you just shadow travel them like I showed you." Nico was back on his feet shouting at the picture.

"I guess I could." Jacob stepped out of frame and his face was getting red.

Chiron was back in front of us again. "Just get some sleep and try not to dream a lot." Me and Miki laughed knowing how bad demigod dreams can be but Chiron's face was deadly serious.

"Guys," He spoke in a lower tone so only we could hear him. "The oracle gave us some disturbing news this morning, after we found her in the strawberry fields cowering from nothing. I'll have to explain when you arrive tomorrow." With that Miki dropped the spoon and his bearded face slowly dropped into the sink.

"So," Miki began while walking into the living room. 'Monster Movie Marathon anyone?"

Me and Jacob smiled as he headed back to the couch with her.


	8. I Realize in a Dream

**Jay Evermist and the Olympains**

**Book One: The Battle Begins**

Chapter 7: I Realize in a Dream

After some time, Miki was the first out so Jacob and I finished 'Frankenstein' without her. I began to succumb to the softness of the sleeping bag and I could tell Jacob was struggling to stay awake. I got up to turn the lights out and when I had gotten back he was already sleeping. I shook my head and climbed in the bag. I rested my head on a pillow Tawny had given us and closed my eyes to the darkness.

I dreamed and when I first realized I was dreaming I wanted to stop. Chiron told us not to and I had a feeling it was something to do with the oracle prophecy he was going to tell us. I shook it off and began to take in my surrounds. It looked like I was in one of those old fashioned banks.

The walls were made of pure marble and it smelled of pine sol and lemon. But at the same time it smelled like whoever did live here, had lived here for a long time. You know how when you go to your grandmother's house it smells of moth balls, it was like that.

I heard noises and my instinct kicked in. I flew behind a pillar and watched around the corner to see if anyone was coming. It took about three minutes to realize the voices were coming from the room over.

As I crept along the wall of the hallway I couldn't help but wonder what brilliant mind went into creating this structure. Annabeth would have a heart attack if she were here. It was just so beautiful. The dimensions were fairly large and that was the only thing that struck me as odd. I moved forward and got to a new room.

I stood frozen when I saw other people. But the thing was, they weren't people exactly. They were Gods. Standing about 11 feet tall, three Gods stood bickering in the middle of the center room. I didn't know why they were in this form but I thanked them for not being in their true form. That would have been terrible.

I realized we were in the throne room and I quietly ran behind a potted plant located in the center of the room. It was as if they didn't see or hear me. But I didn't want to press my luck. I leaned up against the pot which was up to my shoulders and turned around to the Gods. I couldn't make out who they were from here but I did notice that two were men and the other one was female.

"Zeus! You can't leave this matter unhandled." A voice boomed through my ears and made them ring. So I was going out on a limb here, but I guessed Zeus was one of the men standing there.

"Calm down Ares, he's doing everything we can do. Hades agreed on this so it doesn't make sense that he's causing a fit now. And the timing is just terrible, right after the war." So Zeus and Ares were fighting, this could not end well. And that other voice, defiantly female. I would guess Hera but it was more smooth and calm. Athena, it had to be Athena.

I gasped as I realized what was going on. Hades and Zeus were arguing, not Zeus and Ares. That must have something to do with the Oracles prophecy. Now the only thing I had to do now was to get out alive. I turned at saw the Gods had stopped talking. Instead Athena had her hand up telling them to stop.

She whispered but I managed to make it out, "Did you hear that?" I was panic stricken when I thought about any noises I had just made. Right before they turned to me it went dark again.

I bolted upright from the sleeping bag in a sweat. I was breathing hard and my eyes had to readjust to the light in the room. Miki and Jacob's bags were pulled up and pushed into a corner and I got up to find them. I made a mental note to tell Chiron about my dream. He probably would want to know about it. It kept slipping from my memory but I held onto it as strong as possible.

"Hey sleepy head," Miki laughed as she poured three water bottles through the sink; seeing it reminded me of Chiron's worry in his voice. "Big day today huh?"

"What?" I asked.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. We aren't the first people to get lost during capture the flag, but the first to get blown to D.C." She smiled and handed me a bottle while heading back into the living room. I followed her in and took a swig of the water.

"You know where Jacob is? He always seems to go off." I asked curiously.

"I know right?" Miki pulled her violet red hair into a messy bun at the top of her head.

"Hey," I thought back to last night. "Was it just me or did Tawny call you Mickenzie?"

"Uh," Miki's face was now the color of her hair. She glanced at her Nike's. "Yeah, it's my name, but you can't tell anyone." She pleaded with me.

"Aw, why not. It's a cool name. Better than a guy's name."

"Come on, Jay's not that bad."

"Okay." I put my hands up in defense.

Miki changed subject rather quickly. "Hey you're probably freezing to death. How about I give you sweater? I have one in yellow, pink, orange, purple, red, and teal, blue, green, I think I got a black one but threw it away. I mean who likes the color black."

I raised my eyebrows and glanced at my black jeans and black Converse. "Oh," Miki said quietly.

"I'm fine, thanks though." I smiled and Jacob walked in from the bathroom. His eyes were encircled with a dark purple pattern that gave away the fact he hadn't slept last night. I wish I hadn't slept last night. I sighed.

"You ready for the shadow travel." My voice must have woken him from his trance, because he shook and mumbled 'yeah' under his breath. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yup, done this a hundred times." He smiled but it faltered until he frowned again.

"Its okay, what's the worst thing that can happen?" Miki piped in.

"Well let's just say, which part of your body do you prefer to keep the most?" I almost laughed but his face and tone showed no humor.

"Well, let's go."

After some crying, most of which was from Tawny, we embarked to the back yard until we reached the edge of Miki's property. We looked upon a fairly large forest for this land and Jacob found a good tree. When we got under it he held out either of his hands. I grabbed his right and Miki his left. After that it was a blur.

I don't recall him saying anything, or doing anything. Just without warning I felt like my face was being torn from my face. Like we were going a thousand miles an hour but staying at the same place at the same time. Darkness was all around me, but that might have been me with my eyes closed. And just as soon as it started, it ended.


	9. Home Sweet Home

**Jay Evermist and the Olympians**

**Book One: The Battle Begins**

Chapter 8: Home Sweet Home

(I was reading my other chapters and it seems I owe everyone who has read my story or whoever will; an apology. I have messed up too many times to count. Whether grammar or placement, I need to slow down. Again sorry hopeful I will get better in the future!)

The look at Half-Blood Hill literally made me want to cry tears of joy. I had been away for a day and had gotten killed more than twice in the same hour. But looking out among the camp made me feel at home and safe. I stood there with Jacob and Miki and we just stared out. The snores of Peleus were starting to get my nerves and I turned to Jacob.

"Thanks." I whispered just quiet enough for him to hear me.

"No problem." He managed, but looked like he would drop dead.

I gasped and turned to Miki. "Come on we have to get him to the infirmary."

"Yeah sure," She turned her head slowly until it snapped into place like she was waking up from a trance. "It just feels like we haven't been here in forever."

"Oh please, it's been what? A day?" I moved to Jacob where we was now starting to slump. I grabbed his shoulders and draped an arm around my neck.

"Well, yeah but it was good to be away." She sighed and did the same with his other arm.

We brought him down the hill but when I took the first step on the ground beneath the hill, I heard the shouts. First it was just whispers and stares but they must have noticed Jacob passed out between me and Miki because when they did come, Will ran up and took my place with Miki. A crowd swept over me they crowded Jacob and Miki. I picked out that girl, Diana, and Nico who I had some words about touching rigged capture the flag posts without thinking it through. Or maybe his problem is that he just doesn't think at all. Jacob is nothing like him.

I walked to my cabin as the camp seemed empty. Some kids must have gone home because it seemed that all of them were currently carrying Miki and Jacob to the infirmary. I sighed as I looked upon the porch of my cabin to the story of my mother's birth, even that didn't cheer me up.

Yeah, the whole experience was fun, but it only reminded me that I would be coming home to an empty cabin with lost hopes and dreams. Only that wasn't what happened. I walked into my cabin to see a woman crunched over a bed next to mine with a bag in her hand. She couldn't have been older than 20 and had dirty blonde hair that ran to her shoulder blades. I almost asked what she was doing and who she was, until I noticed her highlights. She had faded red tips almost invisible to the human eye. It was almost like she had been trying to wash them out. I shook off that thought, this was Hannah. She was home, and perfect timing.

"Ahem," I cleared my throat causing the girl to jump and spin around. She strained her eyes and grew pale when she made out my face.

"Uh, Jay, I was just leaving." She grabbed her bag and sword and slung it over her shoulder.

"Wait." I put my hand up. "Why are you leaving so soon? I just saw you. You're not going to stay and chat?"

"Well," Hannah shifted uncomfortably from each foot until she looked down at her feet to stop. "I have classes to take, and clothes to clean."

My smile faltered "You're not going to stay for lunch or dinner, or the camp fire? You just got here." I could feel myself tearing up. After everything I had been through today, this was the last thing I needed.

"I'm so sorry, Jay." She walked me over to the bed and we sat down next to each other. "But there's something I haven't told you." Her voice got quiet almost like a whisper.

"There is a battle brewing in Olympus." I recalled my dream. Hannah noticed I had heard of this. "I'm guessing you know what about." I wanted to scream no, but i figured I would let her finish. "Iris has chosen a side, and I must join her. She is asking for all demigods to accompany her, she thinks there will be a war."

"What?" I was too confused to listen to any more. "What battle? We just finished two wars." I just wanted to hug Hannah and talk for hours but it felt like she wanted to leave now.

Hannah drew back and stood up, facing the wall of handprints. For a minute I thought I saw fear and doubt in her eyes as she looked upon our names and hands. But it was washed away with a smile before she turned back around. "You'll know soon enough." She held my hand and I got up to stand in front of her. "I just want to let you know that were mom and I are going or which side we chose should in no way affect you." Her eyes got watery as she embraced me.

"I love you Jay and never forget that." She wiped a tear as she backed away and headed for the door. "Never forget that I'll never stop missing you and caring about you." And just like that, I was sitting on my bed, crying my eyes out.

I let my mind wander as I thought back to the first time I came to camp, when I met Hannah.

Probably seeing a nine year old girl climbing over a hill with a dracaena on her tail isn't the thing most people see on a casual Saturday morning. Apparently for this camp, it was. I remember running up and passing and oddly shaped pine tree on my way to the top of the hill. I didn't really know where I was going but, it felt right, like I was supposed to go there.

The monsters seemed to drown in the distance as kids in armor passed behind me. The clangs of swords rang into my ears until I drowned them out as well. The last thing I remembered before passing out was two kids, one girl with dirty blonde hair and a boy with blonde hair. It must have been my brain shutting down but I could have sworn he had an eye on the back of his hand.

When I did wake up it was in the infirmary. I was lying on a cot with white linens and a white curtain surrounding my bed. It reminded me of a nurse's office. I rolled over and saw a small group of flowers in a vase on the table by the cot. Also next to the flowers were some small square things that I couldn't make out, with some yellow liquid that looked like honey.

Talking was getting louder as I heard footsteps and shadows approach the curtain. It was pulled open and standing there was the girl I saw running towards me on the hill and an oldish looking man in a wheelchair with a brown beard.

"Looks like she's awake, I trust you can show her around, Hannah." The man nodded his head and wheeled away. In the corner of the room I saw the boy with the blonde hair and was shocked to see I was right. All over his body were eyes. I had averted my eyes so I wouldn't get too creeped out.

I had gotten up, brushed myself off, and since then me and Hannah had been as close as sisters. Butch came about two years later but at this point neither of us, me or Butch, knew we were descendents of Iris. Hannah had been there two years before and been claimed about when I was 13. It was random but that was how it was back then. It wasn't until the war when we were claimed, and not until afterwards that we got our own cabin.

We had grown up together, and now she was leaving forever.


	10. The Battle

**Jay Evermist and the Olympians**

**Book One: The Battle Begins**

Chapter 9: The Battle 

(The last couples have been really short, so I'm sorry.)

I was awoken to a banging on my door which was loud enough to cause me to fall out of my bed. My head ached as I got up and checked my watch. _2:34_, I had slept through lunch and my stomach rumbled. The banging got louder and I walked over the floor to my door. I turned the gold drachma shaped doorknob to see a soaked Annabeth on my patio. I looked around to see it was raining.

"Thanks," she huffed as she pushed her way through me and into the cabin.

"Um, you're welcome?" I didn't put too much sarcasm in it, but she did just barge in. "What I can I do for you?" I pulled on a sweater I kept on bed post and tried to fix my bed head.

Annabeth took in the room; she had obviously never been in here before. She turned to the wall of paint and smiled. "We have a little table in our cabin, where we can build little towns." She turned to me, it was probably the first time she smiled at me. "It's cool to have a place for your gifts." I don't know what she was implying but I was only a mediocre artist.

"Anyway," She shook her head which caused some droplets to land on my face. I wiped them off as she continued. "All the cabin leaders are having a meeting at the big house in ten minutes." She turned and headed to the door.

"Oh, wait" She turned back to face me and my question. "Do you know what we will be discussing?"

"Yeah," Her face seemed to grow pale. "That prophecy Rachel gave. Just hurry up, we probably only have about 6 minutes now." She walked off in a huff towards the next cabin, Nike.

I scrambled to grab my small backpack, which was now stuffed in the corner where I left it, and got my shoes on. My converses were going to be ruined by the mud so instead, I threw on a pair of old running sneakers. As I headed out, I saw one person from each cabin slowly make their way to the big house. Annabeth was at the end of the U, coming out of the Hypnos cabin by the time I started walking. Everybody else slugged along, but I didn't want to get soaked so I started running up. It must have been a trick of the light because I could have sworn I saw a sliver object reflect light into my eyes. When I turned I only saw Connor and Travis, co-head counselors from the Hermes cabin, laughing about something.

I got to the house and went around the house to the back door which leads to the basement, the rec. room. Chiron was at the front of the room with his hands behind his back, which must have been hard considering his backside was a horse. I grabbed a chair around the ping pong table where most meetings take place.

I had only been at one other meeting in the whole 9 years I was here. Butch usually took care of that and if he's not here a kid named Angelica took his place. But since they were both gone, I was the substitute by default.

I grabbed my backpack off my shoulders and got out my bag. I scolded myself for not having a drawing for breakfast or lunch but then realized there was nothing I could do. I turned to the back which was saved for miscellaneous drawings and began to draw the table. Everybody was here so I began to draw them as well. It wasn't until I reached the second person did I realize that it was probably a bad idea since most people listen to the meetings. I looked up to see a worried Chiron pondering over his thoughts. Everyone else was in little groups talking amongst themselves. Everyone was here, Travis and Conner, Annabeth, Percy (who looked surprisingly dry), Nico; Jason Grace from Zeus, Will, a kid who I'm pretty sure was called Leo from Hephaestus, Piper Mclean from Aphrodite (who obviously didn't care her hair was a mess from the rain), and one or two other kids I didn't know.

Chiron finally broke the silence. "I'm glad you all made it today." He smiled but it faltered.

"Well, we didn't have much of a choice," Travis, the older of the twins, joked. "what with Annabeth breaking down our doors." A few laughed while a few just stared at the table.

Chiron ignored his comment. "We have grave news. Rachel Elizabeth Dare, our camp oracle, has given it to us. I guess I'll let her explain." She stepped out of the shadows and walked up to the table as Chiron trotted away.

"Well, hello." She began awkwardly. "Ok tough crowd. I guess I should start with the prophecy." She more or less said to herself. Her eyes strained while she tried to remember it and a smile grew as she must have remembered it.

"_The Lord of the Dead has made a fair offer,_

_We wait as he dies at the hand of another._

_Three have been called to lift the curse,_

_To stop what has come back for much worse."_

She stopped and walked quietly back out the door while everyone was still taking it in. Finally Percy spoke up. "Chiron? Do you know who the three are?" Everyone nodded their heads. "I would offer myself but, I think I've had enough of quests for now."

"Well, who says you get to go?" Nico shouted. Everyone else started talking as one.

"Yeah Jackson! We want a quest too. You only saved Olympus." Conner laughed.

A girl from a Demeter rose to face the twins. "You too would just ruin it in a heartbeat."

Travis smirked. "Yeah Katie and I bet you listen to my heartbeats don't you." He raised an eyebrow as she blushed and sat back down. I heard her whisper to herself, 'That doesn't make sense.'

"People!" Chiron shouted. "We have more important things to deal with than to see who will go. I don't know if anyone noticed this, but it's raining. In camp."

Everyone looked around worriedly. "We don't usually get weather unless we want it. But, the fleece is not exactly working the way we wish. The monsters will not get in, not today. But we had to cut back on the top of the boundary." He smiled. "Just thought you would want to know."

"Whether we will find them tonight or not, we all must prepare for the quest. Tonight at the camp fire Rachel thinks she will have another prophecy, they are usually spaced out but closely related. We only have about 15 kids at camp since most left when you went missing." Chiron and everybody else turned to me and I blushed.

"We need all the help we can get if it's true. A battle is brewing in Olympus."

That was the same thing Hannah told to me. We were all let go but Chiron stopped me. "Jay, I hope you don't mind we may have to postpone your lessons until further notice." I nodded my head and ran back to my cabin.

I slumped back on my bed and pulled out my notebook and tried to remember what Rachel had said. I scribbled it down and slide it away in my drenched backpack. I just wanted to relax and enjoy my day; unfortunately that was not the way it was going to be.

The bell shook me from my trance and I slugged to the door. I opened to so see the campers, which was about 14 minus me; make their way to the camp forge. I saw some of the nymphs and air spirits flying overhead trying to stop the rain but it wasn't working.

I readjusted my sweater as I fixed my hair again and started walking as well. I got there to see that everyone was walking about getting ready with their weapons and blueprints. I heard whispers and realized there was a chariot race happening in about an hour. The remaining Hephaestus kid rushed around his chariot finishing it within ten minutes. I saw a couple kids grouped around one corner and recognized them as Conner, Travis, Katie, Jason, and Piper. Apparently they were fighting again.

"How are we supposed to see with all the rain around?" Jason asked while he scribbled out another idea.

"Don't ask us!" Travis put his hands up.

Conner backed him up. "Yeah, ask your dad, 'Mr. Son-of-sky-god'."

"Iris controls rain not Zeus!" Jason practically screamed. I could have sworn I heard a crackle of electricity. Then again I have seen Thalia when she was angry so I wouldn't be surprised.

I slinked back against the wall while Piper dragged Jason towards the Leo kid. The three remaining teens went back to their own chariot. Percy stepped up on a platform in the middle of the pavilion and cleared his throat.

"Excuse me everyone!" A clang was heard from across the room as Leo dropped a shield rack causing them all to fall. Percy put his head in his hand. "How many times Valdez, do we have to tell you? Anyway, although the weather outside may be frightful."

"Oh please don't say 'the fire is so delightful'!" Katie laughed as she reluctantly high fived Travis.

"Please! Everyone just listen." Percy was getting pretty annoyed. I noticed Jacob was across the room with Nico and Miki was over with Will and Diana. "Teams, the Apollo cabin will be white team, Hermes and Demeter are orange, and Zeus, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus will be Red. Hades and Iris are Black and myself and Athena are Green. Any question?" Everyone went back to talking and working. "Of course not." Percy mumbled.

I unwillingly walked over to where I saw Nico standing by a stack of iron slabs. "Anything I can do to help?" I asked.

"What?" He looked up and I saw there were bags under his eyes. "Oh yeah Jacob's over there adding crossbones to the chariot." He shoo-ed me away and I found Jacob on one of those rolling pads under the chariot. I waited there until he finally rolled out with grease smeared on his face.

"Hey," I said.

He looked at me while he got up but then looked down. "Hey, so um, how's it going."

"Good actually." I faked a smile. "Yeah, I get back from being away and no one says hi and then, this is a good part. My sister and pretty much only friend is leaving me forever." I didn't care if I sounded rude, I was upset.

"Yeah sorry about that," Jacob shifted uneasily. "So I was wondering if you would help us with the paint. Our team is black so we wanted a black chariot."

I stepped out in front of the vehicle and shook my head. "No, there has to be some color or if will be too boring." I smiled. "And we can't win with a boring chariot now can we?"

"No I guess not."

"So," Nico came over with a finished scribble of blueprints. "Jay while you're doing that I was thing Jacob could help me with the secret compartment." He winked at Jacob and they headed over to the burning furnaces. I looked at them weirdly but then just shook it off, boys and their toys.

When I was done with the paint job it looked magnificent. With a black background I painted little white and yellow specks and constellations for the sky. I drew a blue planet which really technically wasn't a planet anymore. But since it was named after the Roman counterpart of Jacob and Nico's dad I figured it was an exception.

"Wow," My teammates were behind me with random stuff in their hands. Their jaws were hanging open in awe. "You're good."

"Thanks." You know that feeling were someone says something nice and you want to hear more but without asking? No, well that's how I felt.

Nico barged through and up into the chariot. He plopped his stuff down and turned to me. "So yeah, awesome job, you can run along now just met back here in about 20 minutes." I rolled my eyes and made my way outside where it looked like the raining finally stopped.

I spotted Miki with Diana playing tetherball and stopped myself when I realized we really didn't know each other that well. We were back and we were really only gone for a couple hours. Everything was back to normal. Plain boring normal. I wiped a tear from my eye as I saw some of the Naiads swimming in the lake. It reminded me of yesterday when I was about to go to lunch. It seemed weird that it was only yesterday but it was. And now my only shoulder to cry on wasn't even here. I walked over to the big house, maybe I could talk Chiron into letting me go to school. I haven't been to a real school since I was eleven, but that's a different story.


	11. The Races Burn

**Jay Evermist and the Olympians**

**Book One: The Battle Begins**

Chapter 10: The Races Burn 

(This may not be how Iris was described in the Son of Neptune but this is how I see her. Oh and sorry the actual races are kind of quick and undescribed. Sorry for the wait and Happy President's Day Americans. 'whoop-de-doo')

I climbed the three stairs of the porch and knocked on the big house door. After no response I walked around the other side of the wrap-around porch. I stared at the big view of Long Island Sound. I gaped at the beautiful water as the Naiads allowed little waves to pound along the rocky beach. What had happened? I had been this strong girl who was afraid of nothing, I would run around with Hannah breaking every rule we would find and now. Now I'm just a girl who is sad.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" I jumped and turned to see a woman sitting on a lawn chair facing the ocean. She had long brown hair woven into a single long braid. She wore a dress that would resemble any twenty some drop out in the sixties. Fringed moccasins joined the arrangement and at her waiste was a small leather pouch. "It reminds me of my home." She smiled a deep smile and turned to be. Her electric eyes made me feel at home and it wasn't long until I realized why.

"Mom," I choked. I ran and sat down next to her. "What can I get you? Are you okay? Do you want me to get Chiron?"

"Honey, I'm fine." She patted my arm and looked back out among the sea. "I came here for a couple reasons." She turned towards me and grabbed my hands. "One because this is neutral territory, two because I figured it would be my last chance to relax before…" She stopped. "Until I have to go to work," She chose her words carefully. "I also wanted to talk to you."

"Oh well, now's not really a good time. I mean I have to be back at the stadium in about 20 minutes." I shook my head but the look in my mother's eyes told me that the chariot races really didn't matter right now.

"Hannah told me she talked to you about this."

"About what?" I rose from the chair to face her letting my frustration show. "I have been hearing everywhere, 'a war is brewing' or 'there's going to be another war', but I don't know. I have no idea what it's about."

Iris was now standing next to me holding my arms in hers while she tried to get me to meet her eyes. "I know not every Godly parent is in their child's life, but I like to stop that stereotype. And you, you Jay are just too good to leave unnoticed." Staring at her, I let her continue and explain herself. "Your father was a painter. He was the best one around, at least on the east coast." She said with a wink. "And you," Her smile never went away but her eyes watered. "You turned out so well."

As much as I loved this mother daughter moment I realized what was going on. She was giving me the normal speech whenever she wanted to avoid a conversation. I shook free from her grasp and asked my original question. "Mom, what is this war."

She closed her eyes and took a tissue from her pouch and dabbed her eyes. "Jay there are some things that I can't tell you." I let out an involuntary sigh. "Oh honey," She held my face in her hands. "It's not my fault. The Gods monitor things like this. Like you know, we can't interfere with heroes." She nudged me in the side and my eyes widened.

"You don't mean, that the prophecy…" I stammered. It couldn't possibly be about me.

She slid her fingers across her lips and turned them miming a key. I hugged her unsure of what really to do. "Oh!" She cried and I immediately stepped back.

"I forgot," She smiled real big. "How's the water control? You know it only comes every third generation. Butch and Hannah missed it though." My jaw was open. "The last person who had it, well he didn't even know he was a demigod. What a shocker."

"I don't know, it's good I guess. Came as a bit of a shock." I remembered when it happened yesterday and my embarrassment in front of Conner.

"Well, I should get going but I hope you do well at chariot races." I had almost forgotten I probably should be going now. "And hopefully you can learn more about this 'war' you keep hearing about." She joked in a tone that made it sound like she hadn't heard of it.

I gave her a final hug before running down the big house steps completely forgetting why I had walked up them in the first place. When I got to the stadium I gained some nasty looks from Nico and Jacob.

"Where have you been you should have been here ten minutes ago?" Nico kicked the side of our chariot and then failed to cover up his pain. I guess time flew faster then I thought.

Jacob saw his pathetic kick and smiled. "Yeah we said to go away but to stay away. We aren't that bad are we?" He smiled and Nico's smile looked like he had a truck on his foot. I couldn't hold back my laughter and caught Miki gaze from her chariot. She looked away and turned back to her team. I made a mental note to talk to her.

We loaded up the chariot with some gear and got our places on the front line. Jacob held the steering wheel while Nico ran me through the traps on the last second.

"So we've got," Nico looked up at Chiron giving the rules. "no time at all." He sighed, "There's a compartment on the side that has a javelin and a spinning wheel of death."

"What?" I looked up and was almost scared of what that was.

"Don't worry it's a simple disc that was cut up and sharpened on the edges that happens to spin because Nico didn't put it in right." Jacob scoffed while he gave the okay sign to Chiron.

"Hey what you call an accident I call a gift." He showed me a simple set of controls that well, control it and that he would man the opposite one.

"This is going to be fun." I was actually happy about this. At least it beats running around in the woods. Nico shook his head and gave me a worried look.

"Fun?" He mumbled.

Although it didn't take long that I realized Nico may have right. The next real memories I have are of the races starting and hearing a loud noises all around me. After the first lap Nico began using the javelin on a fast approaching Apollo chariot. Once drawn it was intercepted by their shields. Except it more like Miki was hanging out of the chariot holding a shield out to protect Will, the driver, and Diana, the girl in the corner of the ride. It happened all so quickly but strangely I turned just in time to see it all. Miki reached a little more out and the look of pure determination returned to her face. The tip of the javelin almost seemed to melt but I was content on believing it was a trick of the light. Nico throw the javelin out of his hands in pure fear and shook his hands wildly while plopping himself on the floor of the chariot.

His weight came as a surprise to Jacob because when he landed he jerked the wheel and swerved, driving into Will's car. Will was enraged and swerved back but he must have forgotten that Miki was still halfway out of the car. Her whole body jerked when she felt the impact and when Will turned back she wasn't in there anymore. Five yards back Miki lay unconscious on the ground being dodged by the remaining chariots. If I wasn't in such shock I would have been happy that we just crossed the line first but like I said I was in shock.

"Jay!" Was all I heard before I tumbled out onto the ground and woke up in the infirmary.

Everything was white. I mean everything. The bed sheets, the cot, the curtain draped around my cot, the gown I was dress in, even the vase of flowers on the bedside table was white. And that bothered me. I did because it was just like it was nine years ago. I expected to hear Hannah and Chiron walk around the corner and show me around. To start over. I sighed and saw a figure standing by the curtain. It pulled the curtain back and the light hit my eyes with unknowing force.

Argus was standing there and smiled when he saw me awake. "Hey Jay, long time no see."

I laughed, "Yeah not for some time. I've had cuts and bruises but nothing to land me in here." I hadn't seen Argus since last year when I fell out of a tree during scout duty. He was kind of like everyone's older brother. He had a really friendly attitude and being Hera's 'son' we were all pretty much related to him in a way.

Argus gave me the usual run down. Some ambrosia and nectar and then told me about what happened. Apparently it was the morning and we had slept right through the night. That was the other thing; Miki was lying in the bed next to me and listening closely to Argus as he talked to both of us. She stayed mostly quiet which probably out of awkwardness. We hadn't talked since the hill yesterday. And that was probably the first and last.

Argus left after telling us we could rest as long as we liked. I rolled over towards the opposite bed and slightly closed my eyes to give the impression I was sleeping. I heard Miki sigh and slight whimpers come from her direction. When I opened my eyes she was sitting up with her knees to her chest. Her head was resting in her hands and was now openly sobbing since she probably thought I was asleep. I waited, staying silent and out of sight as she whimpered and ended her cries with choked up breaths.

Eventually I counted to 200 and moved then to give the impression I was now waking up. I sat up avoiding her eyes and yawned. She reached for her sheets to wipe her eyes and all I wanted to do was get out of this room. As much as my hormones would say otherwise, I'm not a very good person when it comes to helping people with their emotions.

"Hey." I turned to her with glazed eyes and a fake smile.

"Hi." She said quietly, never looking up from her bed.

I got up and walked over to where she was now shivering from the cold. I reached up and closed the window that sat between us and put a hand on her shoulder. "You okay?" I questioned. She nodded her head but it didn't seem too convincing.

"What happened?" I asked keeping my eyes right on hers, even though she was looking down.

She started tearing up again. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"What made you fall out?"

"Will." She snapped like she had rehearsed this. "Stupid driver."

"What made you think you could dodge Nico's javelin?"

She opened her mouth but no words came out, she just simply cried. "I'm so sort if you're hurt. It's my entire fault." Miki said between gasps.

"No, it's fine." I stood there awkwardly while she let it out. I figured I should hug her but like I said, I don't do crying unless it's me.

"Can you keep a secret?" I looked towards her to see her eyes showing loss and depression, but also hope.

I cautiously took her hand. "Sure."

"Sit down," She sat Indian style at the front of the bed and I sat with my feet hanging off the end of hers. "This is going to sound stupid. I was trying to melt it." She looked down to avoid my gaze and I only slightly laughed. "See, I knew you would think I was being crazy."

"Not crazy just unexplained." I nodded my head to let her continue.

"Well, I can use fire."

"Like how?"

Without warning she held out her hands and what I saw amazed me. Small blazes of fire and light leapt across her palms almost in a dance. She moved them away and tried to read my expression. "I had never really used it more than that and I though Diana would be proud of me."

"You're like and older sister to her." I willed myself not to cry at thoughts of Hannah.

"Yeah Will and I are all she's got, at least while she's here. She can be a handful sometimes, and definitely has her annoying streaks." She chuckled as if remembering a found memory.

"So how about we go and get some breakfast." I suggested hopefully cheering her up.

"It probably started already," Great she was still upset. As if reading my mind she changed her attitude right away. "But we can go and check it out if you like."

I checked my watch just to see if it had started while we were asleep. "That's weird." I said while trying to shake my watch.

"What is it?" Miki asked while grabbing my wrist. That was something that bothered me, she was so curious sometimes it took over and she hurt my arm.

I pulled back and rubbing my aching wrist. "It's nothing, I guess my watch battery just wore off."

"Aren't they supposed to last like forever?" Well she was in a better mood.

"Yeah, I thought. I only got it…" My voice got cut off. I had found it in my cabin nine years ago under the mist fountain on a table, used to make Iris Messages.

Miki sensed my sadness and grabbed my hand. "Come on, I want some toast." We walked out to the center of the infirmary and grabbed our clothes. After changing out of our gowns we made our way across camp. Breakfast hadn't started and after asking around it was only 7:23. I waved good bye to Miki as she was 'attacked' by Diana and pried away by Will, both demanding questions.

I hoped seven minutes would go by quickly because I was hungry. And then it happened. Only in a flash. I was tackled to the ground with a blue eyed beauty stammering words from his mouth.

"Sorry, Jay." He got up and brushed himself off. Reaching down to give me a hand, I only stared. I slowly got up and wondered what had happened.

"What were you doing, Conner?" I didn't mean to be annoyed, but he must have taken it the wrong way.

"Well, then." He said in a huff while bumping my shoulder and walking past grabbing a baseball a few feet away.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to be rude." I said apologetically.

"Sure." His eyes sparkled but then I realized it was actually the silver chain hanging from his neck and coming behind hind his collar.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Nothing." He quickly spat while adjusting it out of sight. It reminded me of what I had seen during the walk to the meeting.

The breakfast bell interrupted his rude conversation. "Would you like to go to breakfast?" He asked while stuffing the baseball in his oversized pockets.

"Sure." I grumbled while we turned to the pavilion. Conner of course, didn't last long and we had walked three feet before he ran off to meet his brother Travis across the field.

What a great day today was going to be.


	12. The Full Prophecy

**Jay Evermist and the Olympians**

**Book One: The Battle Begins**

Chapter 11: The Full Prophecy

(This one's kind of short so sorry!)

Of all the years I have been here at camp, I may have missed some days in my sketchbooks, or should I say sketchbooks. I have missed maybe eight or ten days, but I didn't care. Not now. There was something in me, telling me there were more important things to do during breakfast.

I could have easily drawn how Will sat on the opposite side of Miki and Diana as if he were a father watching over his children. Or how Conner and Travis sat with their backs to Chiron so he wouldn't read their lips, they aren't as stupid as you think. I could have even recorded how Jason and Piper would talk table from table while Leo sat at his own shaking his head. But what I felt was right, there was something more important. Even though my mom wouldn't tell me the whole story I got the gist of it, there was a war and somehow I was involved.

I ate my toast and grapes silently when a felt a tug at my shirt, and it when then that I noticed Miki and Jacob's absence in the dining pavilion. I turned to see a satyr girl tugging on my shirt. Her face looked scared and I quickly came to my senses and stood, nearly knocking my whole table over.

"Jay, right?" She asked in a low quiet voice.

"Uh yeah, why do you ask?" I adjusted the white table cloth I had bumped.

"Chiron wants to see you right away." She bleated and ran towards the Big House in a rush.

I followed quickly behind, hoping the nymphs wouldn't mind cleaning up my mess. I only stumbled a few times but never caught up to the goat girl until I was panting on the porch. I raised my head and saw Miki and Jacob, both wide eyed, sitting on the living room couch. Chiron walked in the doorframe and motioned for me to sit beside them.

"Glad you could make it." He said cheery. His voice didn't exactly match their expressions. After some time of us just sitting there Chiron finally spoke up. "What do you three know?"

All of us looked at him strange, but we knew what he was talking about. The war, and I had a feeling Miki and Jacob knew just as much as me.

"What do you know about the war?" Chiron continued. "The prophecy? Anything?"

Jacob fidgeted uncomfortably next to me. "I know that there's a war and it's apparently about my dad."

"Good." Chiron seemed unconvinced, but so did I. It was like he was holding something back.

"I've heard from Will that it involves three demigods but that's it." Miki said while looking on the ground.

"Not necessarily demigods, but okay." Chiron turned to the place I didn't want him to. "What about you, Jay?"

"Well," I shifted, trying to word what I was trying to say. "My mom came for a visit and we talked." Chiron seemed very interested. "She said she couldn't involve with heroes and their quests', giving me a signal like I was a hero." Chiron leaned back in his wheelchair disguise. I stopped myself from telling him about Hannah, I didn't even know the whole story and as far as Chiron was concerned, she was in college.

"I brought you all here and asked you that because I have reason to believe that you three are all part of this war. Pieces of a puzzle that the Gods will try to manipulate." Chiron warned. "Jacob is right when he suspects his father did start this war, but I don't think that is it." He stopped. "I, um, think someone else should tell you this though."

Rachel stepped out of the corner of the room and I nearly had a heart attack. Why did she always have to just come out of the background, I figured being the oracle and all. She hastily sat down on a wooden chair placed by Chiron facing the couch

.

"I had another prophecy. I didn't say it at the meeting because it involves you three." My throat went dry when I realized what this really meant. "I guess you guys want to hear it and you probably should before you head out."

"Head out where?" Jacob asked.

Rachel's face was dark and pitiful. "On your quest to save Hades."

"No, but he's the one that started the war!" Miki was now standing and shouting. I didn't know why she got so worked up so easily but I could tell why she would be here. 'We aren't prepared. When are we going? What will need for the quest?"

"Miki," Rachel's voice was smooth and relaxing. "Let me continue." She, shaking from what I could assume was fear, got out a piece of parchment and began to read.

'_Three on a quest to save the Underworld,_

_A bigger threat will be unfurled._

_Water and Fire are elements unalike,_

_Death has a chance redeem his strike.'_

Miki and I shared uneasy looks for we knew the meaning of the third line. She was there when the water had splashed and she had come out and told me about her fire skills. I became very uneasy on account of what this really meant. The biggest quest I had even been on was to find a lost satyr once in Virginia and that was the farthest I had been in the United States; now I about to go on a quest with the Underworld, which meant at least San Francisco.

"When do we leave?" Jacob asked, unfazed by what we had just heard. Through out this whole thing he seemed like the calmest one.

"Why are you so happy about this?" Miki questioned.

"Because I know, the sooner we go, the sooner we can get this over with." He sighed. "I don't like conflict."

As much as I my not have admitted, Jacob was right. The more time we spent talking and bickering, the less time we have for this quest. We had to move quick, but we still had limiteed information. "Miki, he's right." Miki sat down but still looked shocked and mad. "We have to go and do this."

"Well, if that's it I'll let Chiron finish this little meeting." Rachel got up and walked out the door to the cold camp. Chiron wheeled out of his office and waited until we had fully comprehended what had happened.

"Any questions?" Chiron asked.

"Where to first?" I really wanted to know at least where we were heading.

Jacob took the liberty of answering this for Chiron. "Well we obviously have to go to California, Las Angeles at least."

"Well," Miki took back over with her list of questions. "When do we leave?"

Chiron took a deep breath. "It's up to you, usually we have a deadline, like the summer or winter soltice. Since we don't, you could leave whenever, but I would suggest you do it soon."

"Today then?" I asked almost shaking from anxiety.

"I would say, yes." Chiron nodded and Jacob stood.

"We might as well pack now." He walked out.

"Let's go." I rose as well while Miki stormed out.

"Oh and Jay," Chiron stopped me. "Watch out for those two." He winked. I didn't really know what that meant, but I remembered it. I walked into my cabin only to have the biggest surprise of my life, so far.

Conner dug through my bags throwing clothes and belongings every which way. I was confused and it didn't take long until he realized my presence in the room. He turned slowly and his face grew red when he saw me.

"Conner," I began slowly. "Is there something you need to tell me?"

"No." He quickly said. "I mean no, I um was just looking for you and thought you would want some help packing, for your quest."

"I never told you about my quest." He was really freaking me out now.

"Um, Will told me. Miki told him and he told me." He dropped what he had in his had and I picked up my broken watch.

"What's this?" I looked at him really weird.

"You should get a new battery I was going to get you one."

"Maybe you should leave, Conner." I pusked him outside and away from my bag. I had no idea what he had planned to do but it probably wasn't for the best. I had to actually get packed.

I picked up all my clothes and stuffed one of my books from my collection in the duffle. I had to travel light so I only planned for a week. When I was done it was well into the morning and I left my bag on the patio. I looked over the camp and you never would have guessed it was winter, the only reason I knew was the date and the occasional shill.

Jacob was bringing his backpack over to me while Miki trudged along with a huge bag. "You sure you'll need all that stuff?" I laughed.

"Hardy har har." Miki mocked. "When you guys run out of food or clothes you'll come running to me."

Jacob scoffed, "Yeah because when I don't have anything to wear, I'll totally want to wear pink sweaters and skinny jeans."

"Blue sweaters and I didn't only pack jeans. I have sweats, and shorts, and shirts, and jeans, and shoes." Miki continued.

"Please explain to me why you're not in the Aphrodite cabin." Jacob patted Miki on the shoulder.

"Please, I'm not that bad." Jacob turned away and Miki looked at me scared. "I'm not am I?"

I held up my hands in defeat. Jacob and I walked towards half-blood hill, where Argus was waiting for us, while Miki still was paranoid about being 'to consumed with fashion'. We would leave in about ten minutes, on a quest we were not even the slightest bit prepared for, nor did we know what to expect.


	13. On the Road Again

**Jay Evermist and the Olympians**

**Book One: The Battle Begins**

Chapter 12: On the Road Again

(This is 12 right? Heck, if I can keep track. Sorry for not updating last week but this one is a little bit longer. So, forgiven? Yeah, I've just had a small case of writers block which comes with it's own symptoms. *Cough* Laziness *Cough* But I am on a roll now!)

Jacob was a good driver. How he learned how to drive is beyond me but I trusted him enough. I sat in the back of the van while Miki occupied the passenger seat. Argus had dropped us off at a van rental down the street after he took us out of camp. We still had no idea where we were going but we figured we would just go west and hope we find out.

Miki had fallen asleep after the first hour of driving and I had stayed quiet in the back, hoping not to distract Jacob from his work. Eventually my curiousity took over me. "So do you know if we are going to stop for lunch?" It was well past noon and I could faintly hear Jacob's stomach growling.

"Uh," He switched lanes and cruised through the slow lane. "Yeah, there should be a Sonic about three miles up on the left exit, I could go there if you like." I had never been to a Sonic but it sounded good.

"Yeah that's fine. I guess Miki will be fine with it too." I glanced over to her unconcious, sleeping body.

I wanted to ask more questions, but I could feel the tension building around us. "Do you know where we are right now?"

"Um," He checked the dashboard. "According to this GPS, we are in Harrisburg Pennsylvania. We should make it in about four days if we drive through some of the night and make like no stops."

I sat back on my seat and groaned. "Do you want to switch drivers through the night so you can sleep?" I didn't want him to be miserable.

"Sure, we'll do that when it comes to it." I caught his smile through the rear view mirror and felt boredom sweep over me. I glared out the window wondering where all these other cars were going and if they had a life or death situation. Before I knew it we were stopped in a parking lot.

"I ordered you a chili cheese Coney dog." Jacob turned while handing me a paper bag and a water bottle. Miki was awake now, contently eater her tater tots while yawning between bites. I thanked Jacob and pulled the bag open to inspect the hotdog. I hoped it tasted better then it sounded.

After Jacob had finished he continued on as I finished the last bites if the delectable hotdog. "So are we really going to be in this car for the next couple days?" Miki asked to Jacob.

"Well," Jacob fixed the rear-view mirror. "If you really want to, there's an airport a couple miles down. If we get there by seven or eight, we can probably catch the plane to Hollywood."

Miki made a squeal in the passenger seat. "Really? We're going to Hollywood?"

"In and out. Los Angeles is where we're headed." Jacob said quietly while I hoped my ear would go back to hearing normal sounds and not squeals.

"So what time is it?" I asked while crumpiling the paper bag up.

"Um." Miki checked the clock on the camp's GPS. "Well it says that it's 10:00 am, but that can't be right. That's like, right after we left camp." She turned to Jacob who burrowed his brow.

"It's probably just a glitch. Jay," He asked. "Does your watch still work?"

"No, it burned out this morning."

"Well, that's just great." He sighed. "Let's just get to the airport as soon as possible."

I gazed out the window as the big cities grew larger and taller, until we finally approached the looming airport. It probably wasn't the biggest airport, but it was the biggest I had ever seen. Which also made it the first.

We jumped out of the car, making a mental note to pick it up when we were done, and headed towards te front doors. It must have looked odd. Three kids, walking into a airport with little to no bags, no tags, not even any tickets. Luckily no one questioned us. Not even when Jacob used a stolen credit card to buy the one way tickets to Hollywood. A lot of things suprised me about him, and this was just one of them. He seemed more in charge when we started out, but also hesitant, almost like he didn't want to be the one giving orders.

"Okay," The woman behind the counter gave the card back to Jacob. She wore a white shirt and blue vest with a button that read 'Hi My Name Is Sherri' scribbled across. "It departs in an hour, from 2A." She pointed to the signs above us and the moving walkways leading to the waiting area. "You'll have to go through security first hon. Are your parents here?"

"No, they're waiting for us." Miki said smiling. "So if we could go now, that'd be great." Miki grabbed the tickets and lead us to the long line to the metal scanners. "So we all know what to do right?" I shook my head agreeing. "'K, we just put our bags down, naturally, and hope for the gods sake they don't find anything okay?"

Me and Jacob shared scared looks but it must have escaped Miki, because she only moved on along the line as we trudged slowly behind. The line actaully did go a lot quicker than I had hoped. I really didn't want to risk them finding any swords or daggers and arresting us. We all put down our bags, shoes, etc. onto the converbelt and slowly walked through the metal detector. I let go of a breath I didn't know I had been holding as I walked through with no problem. Me and Jaocb turned to watch Miki go through as we recollected our stuff.

The bell ringing was the biggest shock to me. Miki's eyes grew as large as saucers as she gulped and turned to large brick wall of a man now glaring at her neck. "You gonna take off that necklace missy." Miki fidled with it while contemplating probably whether to run now or not. I gave her a reasurring look and told her to just put it in the bucket.

She did so and walked to the other side to grab it back. I found it was weird she cared so much over one little necklace, but knowing her, she probably did the same for her sweaters too. She took deep breaths as Jacob patted her back, kindly. I noticed a twing of blush in her cheeks but didn't think twice about it, at the time.

After wondering around for a while we found our section and waited for what seemed like hours. The woman, wearing the same vest but this time 'Stacey', called on the intercom to tell passengers to line up for the plane. Jaocb pulled us to the front of the line. "Front line always gets the best seats." He grinned.

"So, you've been on a plane before?" I asked with absentmindedly playing with my duffle's zipper.

"Yeah, I used to live out here in California. I would fly from California to Las Vegas every summer." He lowered his tone. "To visit my mom."

I felt a sudden erge to hug him, only so that he knew someone cared. The lady collecting tickets, however, interupted our little bonding moment. "Tickets please."

Miki handed her the tickets and the lady eyed us questioningly. "Hold on." We were so close, we made it this far and now it was the end. "Where are your parents?"

Miki didn't answer this time and Jacob desperatly looked to me. "Well, you know, we're flying out to see them." I shrugged my shoulders and let out a sigh of relief when the lady nodded her head. What ever I had said was right. I had sort of blanked out and was unaware of what I had really said. "Thanks." I nodded.

We stepped into the hallway that lead the airport to the airplane and nudged Miki. "What?" She asked while rubbing her arm.

"Where's our seats?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Follow me." Jacob said, stepping out from between us and leading us towards the front of the plane. He stopped in first class and I almost ran into him. Miki and I widened our eyes in realization.

"No way!" I exclaimed. "You got us in here?"

"Yeah," He smiled. "I guess I did."

"We can always count on you can't we." Miki joked. She struggled with fitting her bags in the top compartment, but it fit. We had decided to keep our bags as carry on, since we couldn't risk anything. She sat in the window seat, gazing dreamily out on the asphalt.

Jacob then sat in the seat next to her, while I stood in the isle awkwardly. "Um, where am I going to sit." The seats were larger than most and there were only two on either side on the isle. "Do you expect me to sit next to some stranger?"

"No." Jacob shook his head. "You're sitting behind us, no one's scheduled to sit there." I shrugged and put my duffle on the empty seat that no one would sit in. The seats were amazingly comfortable. They were leather and had little cup holders in the arm rests. There was even headphones coming out of the head rest. Needless to say, this was going to be a nice flight.

After the routine safety whatever (I really didn't pay attention) the flight attendents began to walk down the isles giving out snacks and drinks. I smiled and grabbed a at the table. The woman however, shooed me away.

"We have chips, sandwiches, salads, anything you like. Would you like a menu."

"Menu?" I asked with my mouth open. "I'll be fine with some Sprite and Doritos." I smiled and was handed the snacks as I leaned forward and saw what Jacob and Miki had. Miki was sipping on her ginger ale while Jacob appeared to be passed out, listening to the music from the headphones.

'Hello passengers this is your captain speaking.' I stuffed my chips into my bag for later while I placed my bottle on the empty seat. 'We want to thank you again for choosing Around The Clock Airways for all your flying destinations. It will be a six hour flight to Hollywood, California. If you decide to fly back or to any of our many other destinations, look us up at '. He finally stopped talking and thought about catching some Z's while listening to some music.

I put in the headphones and looked at a pamphlet of songs from the pocket of my chair. I found the song I was looking for and instintly became more happy. I closed my eyes and listened to AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck'. It reminded of how my dad used to crank 80's music and how I would sit in the passenger seat and tap my small legs to the beat. I took in the nostalgia and thought, 'maybe this trip wouldn't be a complete waste.' I fell alseep with a smile on my face.

The seatbelt light, glaring at my closed eyes, woke me from my sleep. We had been flying four and some hours and only had a couple hundred miles to go. I stretched my arms and took out my earphones relunctantly as 'Spirit in the Sky' played.

I yawned and found Jacob and Miki asleep in their seats. It was kind of cute, their heads were leaning against each other, whether on purpose or not, it was cute. Sighing, I looked out the window and took in the beatiful scene. We were flying over the country at almost midnight and the stars were just beatiful. Man, Zeus was good.

My seat was the last one before the curtain between First Class and Coach seating, so there was a bathroom right there. I could walk a couple extra yards to get to the fancy smancy bathroom but I decided to test my luck with the generic toilet. I got up and shuffled to the lavatory.

The first thing I noticed was how cramped Coach seating was, and how fourtunate I was to be sitting in First Class. There was people more than five times my age sitting inbetween brats while I sat with an empty seat. I knocked on the door and it was met by a strong gruff.

"I'll be out in a sec." The voice replied. Something about the voice didn't set right with me and made my skin tingle. Not a second later, a tall thin man walked out and turned his head to me. It was hard to tell what he looked like through his large coat, hat, and glasses. I barely made out his eyes behind his foggy glasses but his eyes. They were so blue, an unnatural shade of blue. Like someone had electricuted them. I gasped as he trudged past and I saw him walk into the First Class section. How had I never seen him? I tried to forget about it while I walked into the small, dimlit bathroom.

Another thing I noticed was the mirror. It was unusually smudged. I had seen public restrooms and let me just say, they are not the greatest or the cleanest. But this, it was weird almost like a symbol smudged by a hand. Everything was really starting to freak me out so I decided to just finish up and get out of there.

Everything was normal at my seat, Miki and Jacob were still asleep, though their heads were now facing different directions, the waitress' were collecting trash, and it was all generally quiet. I saw, however that the man I had seen in the bathroom was sitting on the opposite isle next to Jacob and Miki's row. I prayed he was okay, he just seemed mysterious. Not technically bad, just unknown. Why was even getting worked up over this? He would get out of our life once we landed.

But sometimes, time doesn't work the way you want it to.


	14. Time is Limited

**Jay Evermist and the Olympians**

Book One: The Battle Begins

Chapter 13: Time is Limited

(Sorry if this one is short but, hey I am back! And still on a roll. Oh and also, my computer was being a dirt-bag so I had to retype the ending not once, not twice, nto even three times. It wouldn't save so this is the fourth interpretation of this chapter. Enjoy!)

My head ached as I slumped back on my chair. Jacob was now chatting to Miki about the turbines in the plane but my head hurt too much to listen. I didn't even know why it hurt, but man did it hurt. I cautiously got up from my seat again and stumbled past the rows until I came across what my goal was.

At the front of the first class area was a small kitchen where they kept the soda and snacks. There was a kind enough looking woman standing at the counter making what looked and smelled like coffee. It sent my senses tingling. Not like spidey senses tingling but it was like my smell was intensified. I felt queasy when I reached the counter to where she was standing.

"Excuse me," I barely mumbled out without my head hurting more.

She turned to look at me with a smile. I wondered, 'what, was everyone here injected with happy juice?'. "Yeah, honey?" She smiled, taking in that I was a kid.

I cut to the chase real quick. "You wouldn't happen to have any painkillers would you?"

Her smile dimmed but didn't fade. "Oh I'm sorry," She placed a hand on my shoulder and I resisted moving it. "But, I can't give you anything without your parents. Are they here?"

"No thanks." I turned back without answering her question and left her to her coffee.

When I got back, my head felt like it could literally explode. The two teens were both looking out the window in odd peace and quiet. It wasn't until I sat back down and fiddled with my bag for ambrosia did I realize that the whole plane was oddly quiet. I looked around quickly and saw that everyone was not moving, like they were waiting. Or frozen.

Fear melted over me and my breath quickened when I saw a man move his hand up ahead. Then, I noticed that it was the same man from the bathroom. I put one and one together and decided he must have done it, or had something to do with it. Looking back now, it might have been jumping to conclusions but, he was freaky. Everything about him put me on edge. The symbols probably weren't a coincidence either. I had to get to the bottom of this.

I turned to face the window for a split-second and jumped in my seat when I turned and saw the man sitting in my empty seat. My mind fuzzed out I had a hard time foucusing when my headache got worse.

"Oh, I'm sorry." The man said quietly. Opposed to the layers and layers of clothing he was wearing before, he now sported a black and grey pinstripped suit and tie combination. "The symbols allow me to stay in this time with you, but it may cause you some pain."

"Who is the gods names are you?" I said expasperated. I frowned as thunder crackled through the still night. My eyes widened in realization. "No way,"

"Way." The olympic God winked.

"What are you doing here? Don't you have Olympus to run? And more importantly, a battle to attend to?" I smirked.

"So they didn't lie." Zeus smiled, and I felt so at home. "You really are so bright." He let out a sigh. "You met your first challenge in Washington, now Chronus has to get his panties in a binch and go do this to you."

"Cronus? As in the titan that we vanquished Cronus?"

"No," He quickly said. "Chronus is the god of time and lets just say, he hates it when you get them confused. He was sent here by," He stopped. "Well he was sent here to stall you."

"Wouldn't that not technically work, since we're frozen in time?"

"I never said he was the brightest God." He winked. I had no idea why Jason always complained, maybe I was just on his good side, but Zeus was pretty awesome.

"So what now?" I asked. "Do you poof us back in time so we continue the quest?"

"I guess so." He said, defeated almost. "But, wait, one last thing. When you get to where you're going remember this one thing." I nodded my head and absent mindedly leaned in, to hear every detail. "Do not go towards the fields. Take the path less traveled on to survive." I nodded for him to continue but he just stopped. Dang you Gods and your way of tricking us mortals.

I didn't remember falling asleep, or even closing my eyes for that matter. But one second, I'm saying goodbye to Zeus and the next my arm is being attacked by Jacob to wake up. I slung my duffle over my shoulder and slugged along with them until we got to the airport lobby, where I crashed.

I sat down with a huff on one of the seats. "Don't do well with flying?" Miki offered.

"You could say that." I rubbed my neck, straining to remember what Zeus had told me. "So, hotel anyone?"

"Well," Jacob and Miki shared a look. "We were wondering if we could go straight to the quest. You know," Jacob smiled. "Quicker in, quicker out."

"Don't know if that's what they say, but okay." I caved. As tired as I was, I wanted this to be over. But more importantly, I just wanted to find out what was going on.

We all headed outside to the curb, at one in the morning, while Jacob called a cab service, he swore would take us to where we need to go. "Okay it's a twenty minute wait." Jacob dug in his pockets. "You guys have any money?"

"Yeah," Miki exclaimed while pulling her wallet from one of her bags. "Always be prepared." She got up and headed towards the water fountain. "I'm going to make a call to camp, just saying we're okay."

"I wouldn't say that." I mumbled but if anyone heard me, they didn't say anything. So me and Jacob were sitting alone, staring up at the stars when something pulled at my brain. "Have you been here before?" I asked on a whim.

He stiffened but answered, none the less. "Yeah, I actually used to come here a lot." I didn't want to push him to talk in he didn't feel in was comfortable, but luckily, I didn't need to. "My mom used to live in Nevada and I would come here with my dad every summer."

I smiled thinking about how cool it must be to spend days at a time with your godly parent. Although, knowing Hades, it probably wasn't always a ball. "Are you okay about your dad? I mean it's not everyday you learn you parent started a war."

He breathed in deep and I realized I had hit a wire. "No," His voice changed to something I had never heard before, it was almost like venom. "He may be a bad parent. Hell, he may even be the worst parent to every walk his excuse for a soul across this earth, but I know. Deep down, I know he didn't do this, atleast not alone." He took another deep breath, returning to normal. "He's not that low."

My heart was almost breaking when Miki came back. "What'd I miss?"

"Nothing." I said close to a whisper, still not taking my eyes off of Jacob. I wondered what had happened to him to make him feel so bad, but figured it was up to him to talk about it.

The taxi finally came after what felt like forever. Apparent;y, it was only 17 minutes. Miki and I went to the trunk to pill our bags in, while Jacob took Miki's twenty and payed. She handed me the bags while I arranged them. When we were done she closed the lid and turned to me.

"You sure I didn't miss anything?" Miki questioned.

"What do you mean?" Taken back by the question, a thousand excuses filled in my head.

"Oh come on, as much as everyone thinks it, I'm not stupid. One second I leave to say hi to Will, Diana, Gracie and the whole cabin and the next I come back to find you guys quiet. Jacob's never quiet, not around me." She frowned, playing with the strand of string that had frayed from her sleeve.

"Hey," I lifted her chin to meet her gaze. "Everythings fine. If there was anything ever up, I would tell you." She didn't look so convinced.

"Promise?" She asked.

"Promise." I grabbed her hand and shook it, while she failed to hold back a laugh. "Now is that good or do I need to go full on spit shake?'

"That's fine!" She said, louder than she probably expected to.

Jacob looked out the window at us an motioned us to get in before the driver kicked us out. We all piled in the back seat with Miki in the middle and me on her right with Jacob on her left.

"So, we are headed to DOA Recording Studio, 9846 Los Angeles, California." Jacob said while the driver nodded his head. It almost looked like he was going to question us, but something stopped him. Probably the fact that if he said that he probably wouldn't be getting paid.

I looked out the window and prayed to Zeus that he wasn't talking gibberish on the plane. We made our way to the studio as I conituned to stare at the scenery passing us. I had never been this far from home. It was scary but also exciting. Oh, if I only knew then.


	15. Dead on Arrival Recording Studios

**Jay Evermist and the Olympians**

**Book One: The Battle Begins**

Chapter 14: Dead on Arrival Recording Studios

(This one seems really rushed so sorry. Also it is a little short, and ends in a cliffhanger.)

I had a hard time keeping my eyes open the whole time we were going there. When we did arrive, the size struck me as odd. It was supposed to be a recording studio but couldn't have been more than two stories. I don't know much about Hollywood, but I assumed they were to be larger.

When we grabbed our stuff we carried them to the door and came with a problem. Where would we keep our bags? Miki offered to carry them with us, but she would not like carrying all her bags and it would get tire-some. What really scared me is that if we kept them, they would slow us down. Jacob finally said that we could just leave them in the lobby and hope for the best, which we did.

When we stepped inside, I was suprised at how crowded it was. People were crowded in the black leather furniture that contrasted deeply with the steel gray walls and floors. We walked around for a while, in circles, before the crowd parted and we were directed to a large podium stood with a man behind it.

He was tall and his bright blonde hair struck against his chocolate skin, much like the walls and furniture. His Italian suit had a small name tag that read, 'Hello, my name is Charon', writen with what looked like cursive writing.

"Hey, Charon." Jacob said to the tall man in sunglasses.

"Oh, well if isn't the little godling Jacob Reed." He said in a smooth and almost elegant voice. "And you brought some friends. Are they dead?"

"No," Jacob cut in. "We would just like some passage down under to the castle. I need to speak with my father."

"Well, why didn't you just get an Iris message." He pointed to me. "This one here's a godling of her, it could have been easy."

Jacob just calmly replied. "It's more a matter that needs to be adressed face-to-face." He handed hiim some drachmas and Charon eyed us one more time before leading us to a big elevator. Obviously we weren't going up, and my stomach turned at the thought of actually going down to the Underworld.

"You know I could get fired for this kid?" Charon asked while we pilled in to the elevator.

"Yeah, but you won't." Jacob mumbled. "You never do. And if you did, me and Nico would put in a good word for you." Jacob joked, a little louder.

After a few minutes, that felt like hours, the doors opened to a dark cave with a small river, starting right in front of the entrance doors. Charon lead us over and slowly helped each one of us into the rickety old boat before getting in as well and grabbing his oars.

I couldn't help but stare, everywhere. The cave widened and we came into the open. I couldn't see the roof, but I had a feeling we were still in some sort of cave. In the distance there was a shore and behind that, a giant wall. Designed to keep something out. I trembled, 'or something in,' I thought.

Charon dropped us off on the shore and turned around immediatly mumbling something about stupid godlings wasting his time. I shrugged my shoulders and felt compleatly out of place.

"Where are we heading exactly?" I asked while rubbing my arms.

"Well we have to go and talk to Hades." Jacob began. "And I figured we could take it from there?"

"And you're sure he's going to be there?" Miki sounded skeptical.

Jacob was not taken aback by the question and I could tell he had been thinking the same. "If all else fails we can count on Persephone to be there."

"And she's okay with you? What with Hades cheating on her and having a kid with your mom?" Miki didn't mean to be so straight forward, but she had. Jacob turned away and took a deep breath before continuing.

"We have to go through the fields of Asphodel in order to get to the palace. First we'll have to make it past the judgement hall and the gates though."

Somethimg rang in my head and I pained myself to try and remember what it was. 'Take the road less traveled to survive,' he had said. "No." I said outloud.

"What?" Jacob and Miki turned back to face me.

I took a staggered breath. "No, um we have to go another way."

"And why exactly do we need to?"

"Zeus told me, in a dream. I think it was a dream, but he did. He said to take the road less traveled."

They both looked worried but also confussed. "Okay, we'll just find another way." I nodded before continuing with them to the gates.

Jaocb really knew this place inside and out. I didn't really know how many times he had come here, but he knew all the shortcuts. After nearly being Cerberus' chew toy, Jacob whisked us away. He showed us this cool hide out thing Nico had made that lead from the gates to the pavillion. We had to swear not to tell, it could cause an uprising in the dead at the pavillion, Jaocb seemed to be in his own place. He seemed distant and reminiscent. There were many times were Miki had to drag him along so we could make it past the hall, unnoticed.

We finally made it past and were now overlooking all of the fields. In the far, far distance sat the palace and looked like it would be at least a day trip on foot. Jacob said it was just an illusion to give the souls no hope to try and escape, not like they could anyway.

"Okay, so there are the fields." Miki pointed out in front of us. "And the only other thing I see is dirt."

"We'll just have to follow it to the palace." I said.

"Are you sure?" Jacob asked, "It would add at least an extra two miles to the walk." At this Miki groaned.

"Yeah, I'm sure." So we headed out.

Yeah there were sometimes when we got tired, but we pushed through it. We were tired, hungry, sleep deprived, and getting thristy. We couldn't judge time, what with my broken watch. I guessed we had been walking about two hours when we finally made it. It was funny, one second it seemed we were a mile away and the next, on the doorstep.

"This is it," I said weak.

"Yeah," Miki choked out. Jacob was suprisingly quiet through this whole thing. We approached the door and cautiously knocked on the huge bronze knocker. Not to our suprise, no one answered. "We'll just have to go in." Miki said while opening the door. "Great, unlocked. That's always a good thing." I rolled my eyes at her sarcasm and Jacob took the lead into the palace.

He took us through the baren halls and never ending rooms until we came across the main throne room. There, sitting on a throne of bones, was a crunched over figure I could only assume was Hades.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked while Jacob looked like he was considering comforting his father.

But someone else took that job. Sitting next to him on her own flowery throne was Persephone. Her long, curled black hair melted softly into her brown and orange, fall colored, dress. She was soothing Hades or at least trying by rubbing him on the back as you would a child.

Hades rose his head and looked up to where we were. "Jacob, come to join the cause I'm sure." He smiled and two men, skeletons, came and grabbed Jacob's arms.

"Get your hands off of me!" Jacob exclaimed.

"Now," Hades strode over to us and grabbed Jacob's face. "Is that anyway to talk to your father?" Jacob shook out ofhis father's grasp but was having no such luck with his arms. Miki started to run after him, but I held her back.

Before we could even react, Jacob was taken out of the room and into another hallway. "No!" Miki escaped my hold and she ran up to the now closed door, pounding on it with her fists. "Jaocb! Jacob, we're gonna get you out! Hold tight!" She screamed while Persephone looked at her with actual pity.

I, well, I was still frozen in place. With fear, shock, hopelessness. Heck, I didn't even know how we were getting out of here. Jacob was our go to guy for all things dead. Now where was he. Locked up somewhere, or worse.

"Now, you two." Hades voice shook me. "Haven't seen you two around, you must know."

"Yeah, the fact that you started a war against Olympus." I practically screamed in his face. Miki was now crumbled by the door, crying, still beating her fist agianst it every so often.

Hades' eyes looked that of confusion and guilt, but that was gone in an instant. "You sicken me," He waved his hand and more minions apeared. "Take them away, not too close to out guest of honor, Jacob, though." He wickedly smiled. Who would have thought he was so cruel.

"Honey," I heard a small, but powerful voice come from the thrones. "Don't you think you're being a bit unfair?" Persephone reasoned with him.

"I thought I told you not to speak unless spoken too!" Hades crossed the large room in strides and gave Persephone a hard smack across the face. She withered down in fear and hurt. It was then that I realized our biggest challenge. Getting out of here alive.


End file.
